When data is generated, it must often be stored or transmitted. Data compression is the art of reducing the amount of data while retaining the information contained within the data. Run length codes are a simple and effective means of data compression. U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,977 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,222, both awarded to Eldridge, et. al., disclose run length coding systems and are included here by reference.
An example of run length coded data is “20 Ps” to indicate the letter P repeated 20 times in a row. The data itself is “PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP”. As can be seen, the coded information is five characters long and occupies 25% of the space of the data.
The Eldridge patents disclose specific run length codes and systems for image compression that enable reducing the amount of data without losing any information. Furthermore, they disclose systems for embedding hints and for selecting between data sources. As such, they also disclose the current methods and systems for run length coding of image data.
Greater data compression than that obtainable using current methods and system is possible and greater compression saves in storage costs and transmission time. A need therefore exists for systems and methods that can compress and decompress an image to a greater extent than current methods and systems allow.